MovieChat Forums > He Was Her Man (1934) Discussion > "Flicker" Hays and the Hays Code - dig a...

"Flicker" Hays and the Hays Code - dig at William Hays?

posted 8 years ago by Antiquercus
4 replies | jump to latest

I haven't seen this film, only the trailer. I understand it to be a Pre-Code film, with themes of prostitution, and as such would have been subject to censorship were the Hays Code enforceable at the time.

This film is dated January 1937 and the Hays Code became enforceable (according to wikipedia) on 1 July 1937.

So I have to wonder if the makers of this film were mocking William Hays by naming Cagney's criminal character "Flicker" Hays, especially as the word "Flicker" is typographically risky - careless kerning leads to the word rendering as *beep*

If you watch this film, or know of any discussions of it, see if you can see any other ridicule of Hays and the MPCC.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Antiquercus 8 years ago

Yes, I got the date wrong - I confused it with the date of a Warner Brothers short parodying this film.

Wasn't the character Hays a pimp?

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] iwals 8 years ago

While the Hays Code had already been implemented, my understanding is it was enforced until about October of 1934. This film was released in June of 1934, but to me it seemed to comply with the Hays Code. As I watching the abrupt ending, I came here to check it's release date. It sure seemed to follow the code, and thus the ending.

Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever.